The hard disk has a software called wd smart unlock. Western digital 40mb shareware wd smartware is a backup and restore software that, boots with your machine. Using your computers file management utility and doubleclicking the wd unlocker virtual cd drive listing clicking start my computer and doubleclicking the wd unlocker virtual cd icon under devices with removable storage 2. It comes installed on western digital external hard drives.
How to unlock wd smart unlock of wd passport external. A small portion of drive space on your new my passport or my book hard drive has been used to create a virtual cd vcd. Giving an example with the new wd my passport ultra, and quoting its user manual p. When the drive is connected to a pc, a virtual cd vcd partition runs via autorun an unlocker utility wd drive unlock. Western digital is a technology company that mainly produces storage products. Windows users click here a small portion of drive space on your new my passport or my book hard drive has been used to create a virtual cd vcd. If your drive has the wd unlocker and not the wd smartware vcd, then just dont lock your drive and you should never see the wd unlocker. Western digital was formed in 1970, originally as a manufacturer of semiconductors. They remain, even after erasing or reformatting the drive. There is some way to disable it ont eh wd support site, but it is a nightmare to do, requiring jumping between several windows. It only carries the software that allows you to password protect your drive. I just bought a my passport and set it up with a password. The system interprets unlocker as a virtual cd rom which doesnt make sense to me. A small portion of drive space on your new my passport or my book hard drive.
I have a wd my book 3tb storage, usb 3, and just like many other enthusiast owners of this external drive, im trying to get rid of their crapware. Unlock western digital hdd using master password techno krat. Doubleclick the wd unlocker virtual cd icon on your desktop. Thanks for the heads up but your solution is not really new. Wd unlocker is just a virtual cd that is included with your drive. However the wd unlocker from the drive should be working fine, are you experiencing any issues. How do you remove the wd smartware virtual cd drive from. Today, western digitals headquarters are located in san jose. A workaround for removing western digitals smartware virtual cd. Click disk drives and check if there is a yellow exclamation mark with wd hard drive disk device. How to remove disable hide wd smartware virtual cd vcd for. Here, you will find more information on how to erase the drive and unlock it.
The smartware virtual cd manager is a tool that lets you hide the vcd on your drive. Erasing your drive does not erase the wd drive unlock utility password protection software files that are on the drives virtual cd. It will patch vmware workstation so it will load mac os x. In each case, the wd security software replaces the desktop icon for your my passport drive with the wd unlocker virtual cd vcd icon. It installed a pointless virtual cd drive on my system. Hopefully wd will release a removal tool in the near future. Wd smartware is another great tool for recuperating access to your hard drive. Western digitals security software allows a password to be set on the external drive, encrypting it. How do i remove a mybooks wd smartware virtual cd from my. This post will cover how to remove wd smartware virtual driver from wds mybook. The silly thing is that apart from this, the drive is amazing. Hi, i just bought a my passport and set it up with a password xxxxx using wd unlocker, which works fine, but i have changed my mind and now want use it as part of an automatic backup system. Check off i understand that reformatting my drive will delete all of my data, that should ungrey format 7. Accessible, small and simple software application that was created to act as a virtual cd manager for your western digital external drive wd smartware virtual cd manager is an application developed.
How to delete wd unlocker udf partition microsoft community. If it is, right click wd hard drive, choose properties and click update driver under driver tab or click on uninstall. Wd smartware virtual cd manager for windows web releasev1. Downloads download software and updates for your wd product at. With just one click of our new wd app, all your content is instantly displayed and organized so you can easily browse your photos, watch your videos, play your music and share it all with friends and family. Using your computers file management utility to open the wd unlocker virtual cd and doubleclicking the unlock. But this would take, as mentioned in the wd kb link you provided, about. Depending on your model of drive the content ddvice the vcd will vary, however it will always contain the wd unlocker application, and it appears on the screen each time you connect your wd drive to the computer. It appears that western digital has released a firmware update and a utility called vcd manager, which will prevent the virtual cd from mounting. Wd smartware for windows supports the following operating. If your product is not listed above, please visit the product page. There are various utils one is the hp format virtual cd tool and im using it now but its going to be several hours before the format is finished.
Wd smartware virtual cd manager download, this software is a virtual cd manager for your wd external drive. Wd passport smartdrive unlock software free download wd. I cant understand why wd would include such an obviously annoying feature with such a good. The wd unlocker vcd provides the wd drive unlock utility that you can use to unlock the drive. It has its software installed on a virtual cd called wd smartware which. How to remove wd smartware virtual drive jared heinrichs. Page 27 knowledge base answer id 6743 for information about downloading and restoring the wd software and disk image on your my passport drive. Ive contacted western digital and asked if they have plans to publish a firmware update with the ability to remove this software. Whenever i plug this device into a computer, there is a virtual cd unit that pops up called wd unlocker, and im trying to remove it physically, instead of just hiding it i found many guides on. On this youll find a tiny utility called wd unlocker, which as. A workaround for removing western digitals smartware. Accessible, small and simple software application that was created to act as a virtual cd manager for your western digital external drive. The wd passport drives have 2 drive letters because there is a partition that acts like a read only cd.
How to remove hidden virtual cd vcd partitions on your. Hi, ok i see, now you might want to try to perform a firmware update with the universal firmware updater for your drive. Even if i eject this virtual cd disk, it pops back again instantly. On your new my passport or my book hard drive is a small portion of drive space which has been used to create a virtual cd.
If the my passport ssd is locked, it will show up on different host pcs as a readonly virtual cd. How to solve my wd hard drive not recognized in windows 10. Accessing the digital media stored on your wd external hard drives directly from your windows 8 start screen is now easier than ever. This is not a dell hardware issue nor a dell issue. How to run mac os x in windows 10 with vmware unlocker. How to unlock a wd external drive without a password ccm. Wd smartware is a backup and restore software that, boots with your machine. Both pieces of software are windows only, and are available here. I searched around the internet and couldnt find a solution. Unable to disable virtual cd wd unlocker on 1to hd my. How to delete wd unlocker udf partition so far i have not been successful or am i able to find any information showing how to remove a western digital wd unlocker partition. Free wd drive unlock software download wd drive unlock. June 21, 20 june 14, 2016 posted in nerdy tagged boot cd, hdd master password, hdd test, hiren boot cd 15.
Solved how to unlock forgotten wd hdd smartware password. Wd passport or elements usb hdd disable virtual cd vcd. I have killed the my passport partition, which shows as unallocated disk 5, but the extra cd rom is there. The vcd contains the wd smartware installation software, drive lock application, user manuals, and other resources, and it appears on the screen each time. Open vmware workstation and select open a virtual machine. Western digital my passport user manual pdf download.
Download wd smartware virtual cd manager accessible, small and simple software application that was created to act as a virtual cd. Using the wd drive unlock utility to erase your my passport when the drive is locked and you have forgotten or lost your password. How to disable the western digital vcd smartware on. Click on preferences and there is a checkbox for open wd smartware when drive is. Or, you can use either the wd security or the wd drive utilities software to unlock the drive. Western digital wd my passport 2 tb external hard drive. It is all documented in the wd smartware software user manual as 1 of 3 options under using the drive unlock utility shown on page 44.
After installing the wd my book software to manage the external drive i noticed there was an additional drive letter. I went to the wd knowledge base site to find out how to get rid of the thing and read that wd did not know how to get rid of it, but was. Western digital does advertise a virtual cd utility on their site, which can disable the virtual cd device. My passport ultra portable hard drive user manual western digital. We ended up asking the user to split work data from personal data and provided them with a more mobile work device to facilitate working on the data at home. Then, you can restart computer to see whether the wd hard drive is recognized by windows 10. Clicking start computer and doubleclicking the wd unlocker virtual cd icon under.
At that time, im expecting to see the bulk of the disk reformatted but the virtual cd unchanged. I never was able to find another software that did not require admin credentials at each unlock, and the smartware software is baked into the drives firmware, so it isnt easy to disable. The wd security is a software that need to be installed on windows. It only pops up when you password protect your unit as a way to unlock it. The vcd contains the wd smartware installation software, the encryption and password protection application, user manuals, and other resource files. Wd smartware unlock utility admin access windows forum. I bought a wd passport essential external hard disk, copied all the stuff into it in windows 7 and got rid of windows 7. Select the mac os x vmx file you downloaded and open it. It is needed in order to unlock the drive if you have it locked. Hi ive just bought an 1 to my passport essentials hard drive wdbabm0010bbk and although following all steps to disable the virtual cd called wd unlocker with this program.
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